Like I said, none of these places were too far, but I loved visiting them all the same. I climbed the smokies, went to so many (mostly Jon Bellion) concerts, saw Wicked on Broadway (wow what an experience), and gained a greater appreciation for the country that I live in.

Out of all of those places, I would say that Chicago was my favorite. I went for a concert and, don’t get me wrong, the city was expensive, but it was great. The concert was lively and blew my mind, and the food after was great, and the hostel we stayed in was pretty great all things considered.

New York was, honestly, not great. The people were rude (I know you’ve heard that all the time and I should’ve expected it), the prices were unbelievable, and we had tickets to a movie at a time at night when the theater was closed. Yes, closed.

I saw a lot of great things with a lot of great friends last year, but I’m not even close to being done.

I just got back from Gatlinburg for Spring Break (my preference to a beach because, honestly, I find beaches boring).

I currently have plans to go to Denver on May 7th for a concert, and a 4 day trip to New York on May 2-6, just to give it another shot.

I still have plans to see Portland, Washington, Houston, and Iceland. One of those is not like the other, I know.

Nostalgia can be a very powerful emotion or affectation, especially if you think you were happier in a previous time. Me personally, I can say that I am nostalgic about many things at this point in my life.

Movie Producers know this. And they feed off of it.

If you’ve been to the movies in the last couples years, you’ve seen plenty of rehashed/rebranded/redone movies that bring us back to a time in our past, or rather movies that have been made that bring back toys or characters from our childhoods.

Transformers, for example.

Another example of this phenomenon would be Spider Man, which is now about to be rebranded for the third time in 15 years. Yes, third.

And you know why?

Because it keeps making money.

Plenty more examples include any superhero movie, bringing us back to any range of years from World War II to whenever the superhero was first created, or Fantastic Beasts, the newest “Harry Potter universe” movie, or the least successful of them all, “Ben Hur”, a remake of a 1959 movie that no one really asked for.

Now don’t get me wrong. This can get a tad annoying, especially when the same idea gets thrown around a thousand times when all I want to see is something new. BUT, there comes a time when movie execs get it right.

One of the best examples of this is

The Lego Movie (2014)

and now more recently,

The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

After seeing the first movie a couple years ago and laughing all the way through it, I had high expectations for this movie.

And they weren’t disappointed.

This kind of Nostalgia is the purest. I was never a huge Lego person, from what I can remember, but this movie put together the humor of a child and added many references, twists, and and action shots (yes, action shots with Legos), that kept a 21 year old happy.

It even *spoiler alert* added many characters from previous loved movies, like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, King Kong, and many more.

Will Arnett (the voice of Batman) was the best and funniest part of The Lego Movie, and he didn’t hold back in this performance. His gruff and gravelly accent throughout the movie only added to the “friends are family” vibe that appears throughout.

To put it simply, this movie is very enjoyable for a huge range of fans. Anywhere from say 8-66, in my unsolicited opinion.